MIAMIDOLPHINS

Team Overview

The Tua Tagovailoa era as Miami knew it is over, and the Dolphins step into 2026 somewhere they haven't been in a long time: genuine transition. The roster got a top-to-bottom facelift, and nowhere is that clearer than the quarterback room, which now reads Quinn EwersNike · Game JerseyMen's Nike Quinn Ewers Aqua Miami Dolphins Team Game Jersey$149.99Shop This JerseyAffiliate link · NFL Shop · prices refreshed weekly, Malik Willis, Mark Gronowski, and Cam Miller — a young, unproven group that immediately changes how survivor pool players should think about this franchise. There's no established week-to-week anchor under center, and that alone is a flashing yellow light for a format where projecting production matters more than almost anything.

The skill positions still have juice. De'Von Achane is the engine of the offense — his home-run speed can carry Miami in the right spot — and behind him, Ollie Gordon II and Jaylen WrightNike · Game JerseyJaylen Wright Men's Nike Aqua Miami Dolphins Custom Game Jersey$189.99Shop This JerseyAffiliate link · NFL Shop · prices refreshed weekly add a power-and-burst contrast. The receiver room, though, was rebuilt by committee rather than around a star: Tutu Atwell brings vertical speed, Jalen Tolbert offers size, and Terrace Marshall Jr. rounds out a group without a proven WR1 alpha. Up front, rookie tackle Kadyn Proctor headlines a line that got younger and bigger, with Jonah SavaiinaeaNike · Game JerseyJonah Savaiinaea Men's Nike Aqua Miami Dolphins Custom Game Jersey$189.99Shop This JerseyAffiliate link · NFL Shop · prices refreshed weekly taking another step inside.

The more reliable story lives on defense, where a genuinely promising young front — Chop RobinsonNike · Game JerseyMen's Nike Chop Robinson Aqua Miami Dolphins Game Jersey$149.99Shop This JerseyAffiliate link · NFL Shop · prices refreshed weekly off the edge, Kenneth GrantNike · Game JerseyMen's Nike Kenneth Grant Aqua Miami Dolphins Team Game Jersey$149.99Shop This JerseyAffiliate link · NFL Shop · prices refreshed weekly and Jordan Phillips inside, veteran Zach Sieler anchoring — gives Miami a real chance to win grind-it-out games. That matters, because as you'll see below, the 2026 schedule does this roster zero favors. This is a team in flux, and that's exactly the profile that demands caution before you stake your survivor life on it.

Team Roster Review

Offense

• Quarterback: Quinn Ewers (2nd year, age 23), Malik Willis (5th year, age 27), Mark Gronowski (rookie), Cam Miller (2nd year, age 25). This is the story of Miami's offseason — an open competition between the developmental Ewers and the mobile Willis, with two young arms behind them. For survivor purposes, an unsettled QB room makes week-to-week production genuinely hard to trust.
• Running Backs: De'Von Achane (4th year, age 24), Jaylen Wright, Ollie Gordon II, Donovan Edwards, Carlos Washington Jr., Anthony Hankerson. Achane is the offense's centerpiece and its ceiling. Gordon and Wright add contrast behind him, but everything runs through Achane's health.
• Wide Receivers: Tutu Atwell (6th year, age 26), Jalen Tolbert (5th year, age 27), Terrace Marshall Jr. (5th year, age 26), Malik WashingtonNike · Game JerseyMalik Washington Men's Nike Aqua Miami Dolphins Custom Game Jersey$189.99Shop This JerseyAffiliate link · NFL Shop · prices refreshed weekly, Jalen Reagor, Theo Wease Jr., Tahj Washington, AJ Henning, plus rookies Chris Bell (Out), Kevin Coleman Jr., Caleb Douglas, and Donaven McCulley. A retooled, by-committee room rather than a top-heavy tandem. Atwell brings speed and Tolbert size, but the lack of a proven alpha caps the passing ceiling.
• Tight Ends: Greg Dulcich (5th year, age 26), Cole Turner, Ben Sims, Will Kacmarek (rookie), Seydou Traore (rookie). A young group with upside but limited established production. Dulcich is the field-stretcher to watch.
• Offensive Line: OT Austin Jackson, OT Patrick Paul, OT Kadyn Proctor (rookie), C Aaron Brewer, G Jonah Savaiinaea, G Jamaree Salyer, G Josh Priebe, OT Charlie Heck. (Depth tackle Carter Warren is on Injured Reserve.) The headline is rookie Proctor out of Alabama — a massive, high-upside building block. If this line gels, it keeps a young QB upright; if not, it's the unit most likely to sink Miami's floor.

Defense

• Defensive Line: Edge: Chop Robinson (3rd year, age 23), David Ojabo, Josh Uche, Clelin Ferrell, Robert Beal Jr., Seth Coleman. Interior: Kenneth Grant (2nd year, age 22), Zach Sieler (9th year, age 30), Jordan Phillips (2nd year, age 22), Zeek Biggers, Matthew Butler. This is the strength of the team. Robinson is poised for a breakout, Grant's massive frame anchors the run in just his second year, and Sieler provides veteran stability. When the offense is a question mark, a front that can win games on its own matters.
• Linebackers: Jordyn Brooks (7th year, age 28), Willie Gay Jr. (7th year, age 28), Tyrel Dodson, Cameron Goode, Ronnie Harrison Jr., plus young depth in Trey Moore, Kyle Louis, Jackson Woodard, and Jacob Rodriguez. Brooks brings sideline-to-sideline range and Gay adds playmaking — a solid, experienced core without a clear All-Pro centerpiece.
• Secondary: CB: Marco Wilson (6th year, age 27), Jason Marshall Jr. (2nd year, age 23), Storm Duck (Out), JuJu Brents, Alex Austin, A.J. Green III, Darrell Baker Jr. (Out), rookie Chris Johnson. S: Dante Trader Jr. (2nd year, age 23), Lonnie Johnson Jr., Zayne Anderson, Omar Brown, rookie Michael Taaffe. Rookie corner Chris Johnson out of San Diego State headlines a young, developing back end. It's unproven, and with Duck and Baker both out, early-season corner injuries add uncertainty against the pass-heavy offenses on this slate.

Special Teams

• K Zane Gonzalez (9th year, age 31) and Riley Patterson (6th year, age 26) compete at kicker, P Bradley Pinion (12th year, veteran leg), LS Tucker Addington. A new-look kicking situation worth monitoring — kicker battles can quietly swing the close, low-scoring games that decide survivor weeks.

2026 Draft Notes

Miami's 2026 class was built to inject youth and reshape the long-term outlook, even if it raises short-term volatility. The headliners:

• OT Kadyn Proctor (Alabama) – A massive tackle and foundational piece for the offensive line.
• CB Chris Johnson (San Diego State) – Lockdown coverage traits to bolster a young cornerback room.

Add in rookie contributors at quarterback (Mark Gronowski), receiver, tight end, and across the front seven, and this is clearly a class geared toward the future rather than a win-now bump.

2026 Outlook

Everything hinges on the quarterback. If Ewers or Willis settles the position quickly and the rebuilt line protects, Achane's speed and a by-committee receiver room can move the ball in favorable matchups. But "if" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. The steadier story is the defense, where a promising young front and an experienced linebacker corps give Miami a chance to win the grind-it-out games survivor pools live and die on. The realistic expectation is a transition season with growing pains — and the schedule below makes that even harder.

2026 Schedule Analysis

Let's not sugarcoat it: this is one of the harder survivor schedules in the league. By the betting markets, Miami is an underdog in all 17 graded weeks — there isn't a single game where the Dolphins are favored, and only one that even sneaks across a coin flip. The least-bad spots cluster around a pair of Jets matchups; everything else is a minefield of elite offenses and cold-weather road trips.

Week	Opponent	Location	Win Prob	Survivor Pool Fit
1	Las Vegas Raiders	Away	36%	Poor — road opener as a clear underdog
2	San Francisco 49ers	Away	19%	Avoid — one of the worst numbers on the slate
3	Kansas City Chiefs	Home	25%	Avoid — it's the Chiefs, home or not
4	Minnesota Vikings	Away	25%	Avoid — road dog indoors
5	Cincinnati Bengals	Home	31%	Poor — home, but a scary passing offense vs. a young secondary
6	—	BYE	—	—
7	New York Jets	Away	45%	Poor — closest first-half number, but a road divisional game below threshold
8	New England Patriots	Home	27%	Avoid — home divisional game, but the number says no
9	Detroit Lions	Home	30%	Avoid — dangerous opponent, even at home
10	Indianapolis Colts	Away	29%	Avoid — road dog, nothing here
11	Buffalo Bills	Away	19%	Avoid — the classic Miami-in-Buffalo trap
12	New York Jets	Home	53%	Moderate — Miami's best number all year, but still a coin flip
13	Denver Broncos	Away	22%	Avoid — road, altitude, ugly number
14	Chicago Bears	Home	32%	Poor — home, but still an underdog
15	Green Bay Packers	Away	19%	Avoid — cold-weather road game at Lambeau
16	Los Angeles Chargers	Home	27%	Avoid — home dog vs. a pass-heavy attack
17	Buffalo Bills	Home	26%	Avoid — Bills again, still an underdog
18	New England Patriots	Away	19%	Avoid — bottom-tier finale, not the usual safe bailout

The takeaway: Miami offers exactly zero strong survivor weeks in 2026. The single best play is Week 12 vs the Jets at 53% — and even that is a coin flip you should only entertain as a genuine last resort. The next-closest number, Week 7 @ the Jets (45%), is a road divisional game that sits below any survivor threshold. Everything else is a sub-40% underdog you leave on the board.

How to time them: you don't, really. There's no stretch where Miami becomes a recurring resource, so treat them purely as an emergency lever. If you're going to reach, reach for that Week 12 home Jets number and nothing else — and confirm Achane is healthy before you do. Log your slate and stack these numbers against your other options in the SpreadWise app; when a team's ceiling is a 53% home game and the floor is a fistful of teens, you want to see exactly how much better your alternatives are before you burn a week on the name.

Historical Performance

Miami has long been a boom-or-bust survivor option, and 2026 leans hard toward "bust." The franchise's habit of stumbling in divisional and cold-weather road games shows up all over this slate — Buffalo twice, New England twice, the Jets twice, plus trips to San Francisco and Green Bay — and the betting markets back up the skepticism with underdog numbers across the entire board. Combine that with quarterback uncertainty and this is a break-glass emergency option, not a team you pencil in.

Best Survivor Spots

The schedule narrows this to almost nothing — which is itself useful information:

• Week 12 vs the Jets (53%). The only week Miami's win probability crosses 50%, and barely. A "break glass in emergency" home divisional pick if you've burned your better options. Confirm Achane's status before you even consider it.
• Week 7 @ the Jets (45%). The next-best number and the closest thing to a coin flip in the first half — but a road divisional game below survivor threshold. File it under "monitor," not "target."

That's the list. There is no true green week on this 2026 slate, and Miami opens on the road and stays an underdog all year long.

Weeks to Avoid

• Weeks 2, 15, 18 — San Francisco (19%), Green Bay (19%), @ New England (19%). The three ugliest spots on the board, tied at the bottom.
• Weeks 11, 17 — Buffalo (19%) and Buffalo again (26%). The AFC East double-dip. History and the odds both say no.
• Week 18 @ New England. Normally you'd hope for a soft finale; instead it's one of the worst numbers all season. Don't count on Miami as a Week 18 lifeline.
• Anything against an elite offense with the QB unsettled. Kansas City (Wk 3), Cincinnati (Wk 5), Detroit (Wk 9), the Chargers (Wk 16) — young quarterback, young/banged-up secondary, dangerous passing attacks. Textbook survivor traps.
• Any week Achane is limited or out. This offense leans on his speed. If he's sidelined, the already-thin ceiling drops further — pivot.

Additional Survivor Pool Considerations

• The Quarterback Question: With Ewers, Willis, Gronowski, and Miller competing, there's no proven week-to-week anchor. Monitor who wins the job — but understand the schedule means it rarely matters for your survivor purposes.
• Achane's Health: He's the offense's engine. Check his status before locking Miami in for even the one marginal spot.
• A Brutal Slate: Underdog in all 17 graded weeks. This is the single biggest factor — even a settled QB can't fix a schedule this unforgiving.
• Young Defensive Front: Robinson, Grant, and Phillips give Miami real upside and can keep grind-it-out games close. That's the unit most likely to turn a coin flip into a win.
• Secondary Uncertainty: A young corner group (Marshall, rookie Chris Johnson) with Storm Duck and Darrell Baker Jr. both out is a liability against the pass-heavy offenses dotting this schedule.

2026 Survivor Pool Verdict

When to use them: Almost never. The single most defensible spot is Week 12 vs the Jets (53%), and only as a genuine last resort for a multi-entry grinder who's burned through better teams and needs a home divisional coin flip — with Achane confirmed healthy. Week 7 @ the Jets (45%) is worth monitoring but sits below any reasonable survivor threshold.

When to avoid them: Basically everywhere else. Both Buffalo games, the 49ers and Packers road trips, the Week 18 finale in New England, and every matchup against a top-tier offense while the quarterback situation is unresolved. All 17 graded weeks have Miami as an underdog — don't reach for the name on the helmet.

Confidence level: Very low — essentially a fade. The 2026 Dolphins combine an unsettled quarterback room, a retooled receiver corps, a promising-but-unproven young roster, and one of the roughest survivor schedules in the league — with no game where they're even favored. Keep an eye on Achane and the QB battle, line up that Week 12 number against your alternatives in SpreadWise, and otherwise let Miami sit. Don't bet your entry on a question mark the betting markets don't believe in for a single week.

References and data: ESPN Miami Dolphins roster (2026); 2026 schedule with win probabilities derived from betting odds. Confirm injury statuses and game stakes before locking any pick.